groove
Americannoun
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a long, narrow cut or indentation in a surface, as the cut in a board to receive the tongue of another board tongue-and-groove joint, a furrow, or a natural indentation on an organism.
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the track or channel of a phonograph record for the needle or stylus.
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a fixed routine.
to get into a groove.
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Printing. the furrow at the bottom of a piece of type.
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Slang. an enjoyable time or experience.
verb (used with object)
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to cut a groove in; furrow.
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Slang.
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to appreciate and enjoy.
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to please immensely.
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verb (used without object)
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Slang.
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to take great pleasure; enjoy oneself.
He was grooving on the music.
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to get along or interact well.
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to fix in a groove.
idioms
noun
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a long narrow channel or furrow, esp one cut into wood by a tool
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the spiral channel, usually V-shaped, in a gramophone record See also microgroove
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one of the spiral cuts in the bore of a gun
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anatomy any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part; sulcus
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mountaineering a shallow fissure in a rock face or between two rock faces, forming an angle of more than 120°
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a settled existence, routine, etc, to which one is suited or accustomed, esp one from which it is difficult to escape
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slang an experience, event, etc, that is groovy
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jazz playing well and apparently effortlessly, with a good beat, etc
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fashionable
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verb
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(tr) to form or cut a groove in
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old-fashioned (intr) to enjoy oneself or feel in rapport with one's surroundings
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(intr) jazz to play well, with a good beat, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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groovesimple
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groovessimple
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have groovedperfect
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has groovedperfect
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am groovingprogressive
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are groovingprogressive
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is groovingprogressive
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have been groovingperfect progressive
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has been groovingperfect progressive
Past
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groovedsimple
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had groovedperfect
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was groovingprogressive
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were groovingprogressive
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had been groovingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of groove
1350–1400; Middle English grofe, groof mining shaft; cognate with Middle Dutch groeve, Dutch groef, German Grube pit, ditch; akin to grave 1
Explanation
A groove is an indentation or rut in something — like the grooves on an old record. Groove is rooted in an old Dutch word for "furrow" or "ditch." And that's just what a groove is: a carved out line, like wheel ruts in a muddy road or the narrow opening that a sliding door moves in. If you can't "find your groove," you feel off track and out of whack. But when you're "in the groove," everything is working smoothly and you've found a good routine. And if someone says "let's groove!", they want to dance.
Vocabulary lists containing groove
Look Both Ways
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A Single Shard
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Oh yes, and drummer Charlie Watts, whose feel for groove helped define the group’s sound, died in 2021.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The implicit joke in the song is that no “streetwise Hercules,” as Tyler describes the man she seeks, could ever come on stronger or faster than she herself does over Steinman’s relentless groove.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Among them was US R&B star Kehlani, who jumped on a remix, fanning the song's smouldering groove into a full-blown inferno.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Backed by the beats of reggaeton, a genre that had historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, La Cruz found both his groove and his tribe with hits like “Te Conocí Bailando” and “Quítate La Ropa.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
The centaur clipped a small cylinder into the accommodating groove on Holly’s helmet.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Paired with bubbly disco grooves and chant-along choruses, the band became gay icons overnight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Over subsequent releases – the exuberant Shooting Star, or the braggadocious Woke Up – they crystallised a musical vision that fused sci-fi aesthetics to the elastic grooves of 90s R&B.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Over subsequent releases – the exuberant Shooting Star, external, or the braggadocious Woke Up, external – they crystallised a musical vision that fused sci-fi aesthetics to the elastic grooves of 90s R&B.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
At first glance, grooves on fossil teeth may sound trivial.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 8, 2026
They weren’t as worn as the steps outside Dawit’s, but the grooves felt familiar.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
Still, the energy in the room remained high as the crowd sang, bobbed their heads and grooved to the music from the comfort of their plush seats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
On the floors of many valleys and craters, swirling, grooved patterns reveal where icy material once moved during an earlier martian ice age.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 26, 2025
The ray is able to swim at just the right speed that water, streaming into its mouth, can form vortices between the grooved plates.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
Muscular go-go dancers grooved in a cloud of rainbow fog while patrons vibed to hits by Selena and Bad Bunny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
Miranda, one of the moons belonging to Uranus, features a patchwork of ridges and cliffs, grooved structures called coronae, and massive canyons up to twelve times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
Mr. Cameron’s characters must learn the gentle wisdom of grooving along with nature, literally making themselves a part of Pandora in gestures of eco-unity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
I distinctly remember being on the family Mac in Brasília at 13 years old, grooving to a CD I’d just burned and thinking: If only my future friends at my new school could hear this.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
Even in its earliest manifestations, there was a peculiar combination of grooving energy and inherent sadness in their music that would pervade their hitmaking efforts with Fleetwood Mac and beyond.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2024
Anderson has aged better than George Clooney, mastering his craft and grooving his action to give the impression he has completed fast bowling.
From BBC ● May 12, 2024
A few people start grooving on the makeshift dance floor, which inspires Angela and Hilda to leave the bar area.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
